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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26406538">The Prince, The Black Fox, and the Bitter Tree</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnugglePuppyBoi/pseuds/SnugglePuppyBoi'>SnugglePuppyBoi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fairy Tales [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fairy Tales &amp; Related Fandoms, Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dark Fairy Tale, Kidnapping, Other, Plant Gore, Starvation, Suicidal Thoughts, Tags sound a little worse than it actually is, Undetailed References to Sex, Victim Blaming</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 11:47:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,135</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26406538</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnugglePuppyBoi/pseuds/SnugglePuppyBoi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A reckless young fox spirit sets out to seduce an unseducable prince and finds themself badly betrayed, though that betrayal will not go without punishment. </p>
<p>"The story of the Prince, the Black Fox, and the Bitter Tree is, if nothing else, a spectacle of horrors."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Original Male Character/Original Character of Unspecified Gender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fairy Tales [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2162199</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Prince, The Black Fox, and the Bitter Tree</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Content warnings in the tags! Please be safe and enjoy the story.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The story of the Prince, the Black Fox, and the Bitter Tree is, if nothing else, a spectacle of horrors.</p>
<p>
  <span>There once lived a young fox spirit with fur black as ink and red as ember. In their youth, this fox was exceedingly reckless, knowing nothing but seeking pleasure and causing mischief in the way of all foxes of similar age. In truth, it would have been quite easy for this fox to go unremembered in history. If not for their misfortune, they'd be remembered only by those who saw them and those who found their odd coloration notable.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This fox found humanity a great, never-ending amusement and often trifled with human affairs. Though time has forgotten the fox's sex, it remembers that the fox delighted to seduce both men and women alike, stealing away wives and husbands, virtuous young maidens and the sons of wealthy families, the rich and the poor, and abandoning them once the novelty of their affections passed. Such is the nature of fox spirits to so cruelly abuse the hearts of those around them whether or not they feel malice towards them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One day in this fox's wanderings it heard of a prince who was without parallel, steadfast and mannerly and the pride of his parents' world. These things mattered little to the fox—what concern was it of theirs if humans took pride in human nonsense?—but a detail about this prince did catch their attention. The only negative thing that could be said for this prince was that there was no warmth to him. He was cold despite his courtesy and showed no interest in the sorts of passions humans and foxes shared. Though he was engaged to be wed, people whispered that there was no way that the prince, who had surely been born with ice in his veins, could ever dirty himself with things as vulgar as taking his future wife to bed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thus it was a common, though discourteous, saying that the prince would never produce a prince or princess of his own and how sad it was that his parents' joy would end with him and not with cherished grandchildren.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the fox heard this, they heard a challenge. To this shameless young fox it might as well have been said, “No one can melt the ice in this young prince's veins. What shame he brings to all the wanton creatures that know only pleasure and mischief! How great would the fox be who could spend a night in this prince's bed?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Naturally, the fox couldn't stand to let anyone else be the fox to take up such a challenge and set out for the palace at once.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once there, it wasn't hard to spot the prince in question and the fox was even more delighted with the fineness of his features than the stories had let on they would be. Though carved from ice, he was one of the loveliest humans the fox had ever seen. The fox felt not the least bit of shame to admit the prince looked even lovelier than they did themself, for while all foxes were created beautiful this fox was quite plain for one of their kind. The fox took to following the prince wherever he went, an ink-and-ember shadow that drew the attention of others even while the fox's attention was wholly on the prince himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>On hunts, the fox would dash between the legs of the prince's horse and chase game like a coursing hound. When enjoying the unmatchable splendor of the palace gardens, the fox could always be seen poking their head out from this bush or that, watching the prince with brilliant golden eyes. On official business in the nearby cities, the fox could be spotted in crowds of passersby, looking like a beautiful commoner save for black ears and swishing black tail. Quickly the fox couldn't help but be mentioned in the same breath as the prince thanks to their constant proximity to one another. Knowing the nature of foxes, it wasn't hard to guess that this one had set their sights on seducing the unseducable young prince. It became just another slanderous arrow against the prince. How could anyone with any fire within them deny an eager young fox, knowing how renown they were in all matters passionate or pleasurable? Truly the prince was a cold one!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gossip can never quite be kept from the ears of those one wishes not to hear it. The prince became aware of the whispering and mean-spirited jeers and grew to resent the fox that smiled at him so sweetly and seemed to have nothing better to do than try and help others humiliate him. On hunts, the prince brought dogs to drive the fox away. When enjoying the palace gardens, he would walk stiffly away anytime he caught a glimpse of a too lovely face or black and red fur. On official business, he made a point to never let his gaze fall on the fox for more than a moment's time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Much to his annoyance, this did nothing but add fire to the rumors about him. His resentment of the fox grew even more, though when one opens their heart for one thing, they should not be surprised if something else sneaks in. Gradually the prince couldn't deny the fox </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> lovely. He'd never seen another fox spirit, so he didn't know that this one was plain for their kind. Conflicted as he was, he refused to take any drastic measures to drive the fox away and continued to endure their presence as he had been before.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One thing often said in this prince's favor was the respect and veneration he showed his ancestors. Every month he would journey alone by a path known to few others to a place of uncertain location that just so happened to be the ancestral shrine of his family. Once there he would spend a full day and night praying, leaving offerings, and tending to the shrine before returning again. Many people had tried to follow him in secret and none had succeeded. Even the fox was shaken off the first few months, but eventually managed to follow in the prince's shadow without getting lost or misled along the way. It would have been impossible for anyone without the fox's cleverness and keen senses.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was on these days that the fox's seduction happened in earnest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fox found the prince's devotion quite endearing. They were themself, after all, a spirit. What was more than that, they were a spirit that often went without veneration or worship. After all, the only one's young enough for the fox to be their ancestors were common foxes that had not gained sapience. This made them envious of other spirits, like those of the prince's ancestors. What was more, the devotion the prince showed was quite curious to one who had once been a common fox, leaving no offerings for their ancestors, and was still too filled with youthful arrogance to see the sense in honoring older fox spirits.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The first words the fox spirit ever spoke to the prince, according to all the stories people still tell, were: “May I help you sweep the shrine?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The prince's response, full of incredulity: “With what broom?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And true enough, the shrine had only one broom for sweeping. The fox was not discouraged.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fox: “My tail makes a fine broom. Won't you let me sweep with you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>To this the prince responded with silence, continuing to sweep with no response. The fox settled in to watch quietly, a smile on their face. They weren't in the least bit discouraged. The day and night passed without further event and the prince returned to his palace, the fox following behind him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The next month went the same and the next and the next. Every month the fox offered to sweep the shrine and every month the prince silently refused. Still the fox persisted. This continued until one day the fox's “May I help you sweep the shrine?” was answered, still in silence, with the prince fetching out a second broom from amidst the offerings he'd brought along with him. The fox was overjoyed!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After that, it really wasn't any different than any other seduction the fox had undertaken. The fox spoke more and more freely with the prince, at first just when they were at the shrine but then on hunts, in the garden, even tagging along with the prince's party while in the city. The fox learned how to make the prince respond with something other than silence, then how to make the prince smile, then how to make him laugh. The two could even be said to have grown quite close and the whisperings changed to tales of how great the prince's prowess must be that he could bed a fox and keep their attentions on him and only him for so long. Perhaps the fox had fallen in love?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was neither true that they'd shared a bed nor that the fox had fallen in love, of course, but truth has only the barest resemblance to a good tale.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>To tell the truth, the fox was more surprised than anyone when, one night while walking alone together in the gardens, the prince seized their hand and said, voice earnest despite the coldness of it, “I want to take you to bed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Again, the fox was overjoyed. By this time, years had passed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Without delay the fox agreed. While some tellings of this story try to wow the listener with details of their night together, the details matter little. The fox followed the prince to bed, resolving how, their mission complete, they could finally go back to the sort of frivolous existence they'd lived before. How bittersweet it would be to no longer play shadow to a human prince! Perhaps they would return after the prince was married and, in the way of foxes, cause the couple well-meaning mischief.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But none of that came to pass because when the fox woke up, ready to sneak from the prince's bed, they were alone in a strange room, chained with chains that robbed them of their power and left them as helpless as any other prisoner.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At first, they couldn't process this development. They tried to break the chains with all their might, to bite through them or find some hidden key, but nothing worked. Then they tried crying out for help, hoping the prince, who they'd come to view as a friend despite the difference in their species, would come to their rescue. Their cries did draw the prince, but it only took one look at his face for their blood to run cold.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead of his usual icy expression, his features were almost unrecognizable in an expression of obsession and adoration. It was clear just from his face what had happened. The prince had tricked them, the prince had captured them, and the prince would never set them free.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Betrayal lit a fire in their breast. Fear only acted as kindling. Flying into a rage, the fox tried to attack the prince, but the prince, having expected this might happen, stood safely outside of the range of the chains. There was nothing the fox could do except rage until the point of exhaustion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once the fox had collapsed into a pile on the floor, the prince softly said: “I was worried the chains might break, but they hold after all. I see my money was well-spent. Still, it's best if you fight less. I'll think of something, my treasure.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>From that day onward, no food was brought to the fox, only water. Being a spirit, they could survive this way, though it weakened them considerably. In the early days, they used what strength they had to attack any human who entered the room and dared come to close, succeeding in injuring a few unwise servants who stepped within the range of their chains. Though somewhat satisfying, these weren't the people the fox wanted to harm. The prince himself never went beyond a certain point in the room, sparing the true target of the fox's hatred. To make it worse, he insisted on visiting every day, speaking to the fox in normal tones as if they were still two friends strolling in the palace gardens even while the fox screamed and yowled and shouted obscenities. The prince weathered this all with a smile on his face. A smile he reserved for the fox and the fox alone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Could any sickness compare to that of the fox seeing that same, terrible smile day after day?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>On one such occasion, the prince remarked: “Really, you can't blame me. My heart was destined to be cold, an untainted snowy hill. But you came along to seduce me and I became like this. You brought this on yourself, my treasure. It's what you deserve.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>To this the fox said every curse they had ever heard, making up a few news ones to supplement them, willing the prince to drop dead from nothing but the weight of the fox's spite. The prince did not die. The fox was not freed. Their captivity continued.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When hatred burns too hot for too long, all that's left behind is ash and desolation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually, the fox found they no longer had the will to attack or scream. They were tired, constantly weak from hunger, and more than that, they'd given way to despair. By counting the prince's appearance they could count the days that went by. Years passed. No rescue came, but what rescue would? Who would care for one young fox spirit's misfortune? Humans would agree with the prince, saying they deserved this for breaking hearts and families on a whim. Foxes might pity them, but the young cared only for themselves and the old had no ties to them, having never been given offerings or veneration. No one else could be bothered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fox became like a stone, blank, unfeeling, unresponsive, yet still pliant. When frightened maids pushed water towards them they drank without being told to, then sat holding the empty bowl in their hands until someone dared take it away. The first time the prince touched them again after their capture, it didn't even occur to them that they might try to attack and kill him, so great was their despair. Instead, they let their body be manipulated like an obedient doll. When they did realize, they couldn't find the will to try. Instead they endured vile, renewed affection for their captor, wishing every day that they and he would die.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One day, the prince said: “Do you know what today is, my treasure?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fox: “...”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The prince: “It's the day of my first son's birth. I wish you could come to the celebrations, but it's best if you stay here. If I spend too much time with you, my wife will grow jealous. I won't let you suffer, though, my treasure. I've brought you a present.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The prince passed something round and soft into the fox's hand, wrapping their fingers around it so it did not roll out onto the floor. The fox couldn't find the will to even look at it in the presence of their captor. Soon after the prince left, his time being too valuable to waste on someone as pitiful as the fox on such an important day as that of his son's birth, and some time later the fox finally looked at what was in their hand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They held a piece of fruit.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn't a fruit they'd ever seen before and they wondered if it was from some foreign land, brought as a gift for the celebration of the prince's child. It was soft to the touch with a sweet smell and, once the fox hesitantly bit into it, a mild taste and many small, slightly bitter seeds scattered throughout the flesh. Slowly, the fox ate it all, savoring every bite. It was the only food they'd been given in years of captivity. It was, perhaps, the only food they would ever receive again and this made it the finest food they'd ever tasted, even knowing who had given it to them.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And though it was given by the lowest sort of person, it was a miraculous gift. Along with the fruit came a small burst of energy, barely enough to do anything with, but enough to rekindle the anger that had burned out of the fox so many years ago.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The prince often told them that, even if they never spoke to him again, the memory of their past conversation would be enough. Even if the fox never smiled at him again, the memory of the beauty of that smile would be enough. These thoughts, aside from sickening the fox with their hypocrisy—if memory were enough, why trap them in this awful room?—had only added to the fox's despair. Even the tacit resistance of silence and indifference weren't in the least bit damaging to the prince. With the small burst of energy they'd gotten, the fox found their anger burned brightest of all on this point.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Capture and torment them out of obsession? Talk every day of the beauty that could be cherished from memories of them? Above any desire for escape, any desire for the prince's death, any desire for anything else at all, the fox wished that they died a death so horrifying and gruesome that any pleasant memories of their beauty would be forever erased by it. In the moment, it felt like the worst thing that could happen to the prince, the punishment that would cause him the most anguish, though how could that even attempt to compare to what the fox had suffered through for years? Still, it was the punishment the fox most dearly wished for. It was all they could find it in themself to want.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Though the fox did not know it, their wish was answered. A seed was planted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shortly after they began to feel ill. The prince, noticing their pained expression, fretted over them. The fox paid it little mind and reasoned that it was suddenly eating again that had caused it, that they'd grown so used to starvation that now that they'd eaten again their body didn't know how to handle it. When the illness worsened and lingered, causing the prince even greater concern, they reasoned that it was their body readjusting to going without. When a small, hard bump developed in their chest, like something from within them trying to push out, they couldn't reason anything and instead hide within the indifference brought along with despair even as the prince was beside himself with fear. They didn't understand what was happening and they didn't care to find out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Even when the first branch finally pierced through their skin, sticking out from the right side of their chest, they didn't understand what was happening. They didn't care. It wasn't until the prince, pushed to desperation, called forth a host of the best healers and magicians that could be found, that the fox even knew the branch was a branch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The healers and magicians were all of one mind on the subject. A tree was growing in the fox and nothing could be done about it. No spell, no medicine, no poison seemed to slow its growth. If it continued as it was, surely the fox would die. The prince didn't heed their words, searching out every charlatan who claimed to have a cure. Slowly, enduring hopeless treatment after hopeless treatment, the fox remembered their wish.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The feeling they felt at that realization was too dark to be joy, but they found no other name for it and called it such anyway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Some tellings go into great detail about the agony the fox faced as the tree grew out of them, slowly killing them as it both engulfed and destroyed their body. These tellings aren't wrong, either. The process was just as horrifying to experience as it was to watch, causing the fox an unbelievable and constant level of pain as it went on. Long before the end of it, they wished for the day of their death to come sooner and sooner, even as they took joy in the prince's tears and pleas and declarations of love. His suffering made up for the years of starvation, feeding the fox better than any food could and tasting far sweeter than the fruit that had made it possible.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This telling will not linger there. The tree was both tall and thick, branches sprouting in all directions, by the time it grew just a bit too much and the fox finally died. Long before that, the tree had rooted itself into the floor of the room, and though the fox was dead, the tree continued to flourish. It was said to be an especially lovely tree, with dark wood, dark leaves, and red blossoms, </span>
  <em>
    <span>if</span>
  </em>
  <span> one could overlook the fox's ruined body all around it.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The prince declared the tree would be allowed to remain and grow as testament to his love for the fox, and even to the humans who blamed the fox for their situation, that seemed far too bold. After all, people had guessed that the tree was a punishment to the prince. To be so shameless as to declare one's punishment a symbol of the rightness of their crime? It was too much. The prince's reputation, far from the glowing words said in his youth, continued to suffer. The common people took to telling the earliest version of this tale, calling the tree the bitter tree.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Over time, the bitter tree grew to fully engulf the fox's body, until not a trace of it could be seen from the outside. Large and beautiful, with a subtle aura of sorrow sensible to even those who didn't know its story, it was visited everyday by the prince just as if it was the fox themself. When, one day, the bitter tree produced a singular fruit, who but the prince was the one to eat it, mourning all the while for his lost love?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Most tellings stop shortly after this, when the prince, without warning, walks from the palace never to be seen again. This one will go a bit further. Perhaps the prince was seen again, though perhaps he was not the prince. To explain: the fox's wish did not truly kill them, only killed their physical body. Within the tree's singular fruit was the fox's soul and when the fruit was eaten, that soul was taken into the prince's body. Fueled by resentment, it wasn't hard for the fox to take the body as their own. From there, the fox left the palace and tried to make a life for themself with this second chance that was given to them. They wandered to this place and to that place, no longer able to take pleasure in the simple mischiefs common to foxes. In fact, they'd grown to hate humans where once they'd been delighted in them. What did the fox do with this hatred? Who can say. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The prince's grieving wife used the only copy of the prince's key to the fox's prison and locked it away, destroying the key shortly after. She wanted the matter forgotten entirely and would have ordered the tree cut down if it weren't for the fact she was certain that, if the prince ever returned, he would have nothing to do with her after. For some time, that was the story's ending.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Many, many years after the prince's disappearance, the door to the room was found open and the tree that had been born from a poor fox's bitter, vengeful wish split in half. The inside of the tree bore a hollow in the shape of the fox's body and, according to some, the only clues left behind were a key thought long lost left in the door and paw prints in the dust, leading outside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So long has passed since then that little more can be said on the matter. It's unlikely, after all these years, that a new development will influence future tellings. It can only be wondered about what the fate of the poor fox was. Perhaps the fox regained their body and is living distant from humans. Perhaps they regained it and are causing chaos and trouble and bloodshed to humanity to make up for their mistreatment. Perhaps they lived a full life in a stolen body and quietly passed away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Perhaps the fox is telling this story now, or listening as it is told. Perhaps it would be best to mind our words, just in case. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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